


relativity

by aairglider (keepemguessing)



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F, F/M, Gen, M/M, Ozai's A+ Parenting, Zuko's Scar (Avatar), gay nerd bullshit, medium burn?, terrible flirting
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-24
Updated: 2020-07-24
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:02:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,993
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25490575
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/keepemguessing/pseuds/aairglider
Summary: "Nephew," Iroh called Zuko back just before he closed the door behind him.Zuko huffed."Yes, Uncle?"Iroh bowed his head. "I promise, Zuko, it will be worth all the effort you can give to it, but nothing more. Now go, and have a most pleasant afternoon."special thanks to the entire h.o.a.m. group chat, but specifically mina, @vokdas for helping me brainstorm for this fic. dedicated to bee @basingse
Relationships: Aang/Katara (Avatar), Iroh & Zuko (Avatar), Mai/Ty Lee (Avatar), Sokka & Suki & Zuko, Sokka/Zuko (Avatar), The Gaang & Zuko (Avatar), Zuko & Toph
Comments: 1
Kudos: 38





	relativity

###  **-inertia- an object at rest will stay at rest/an object in motion will stay in motion unless acted upon by an external force**

**direct message: [sokka kuruk], [zuko roku]**

**tuesday, september 17**

**11:47 am**

**[sokka kuruk]:** hey is this zuko?

 **[zuko roku]:**...Yes? Who is this? 

**[sokka kuruk]:** oh! uh i'm sokka. professor iroh told me to message you? about tutoring for AS/PHYS-102?

 **[zuko roku]:** He what? 

**[sokka kuruk]:** yeah, did he not tell you? 

**[zuko roku]:** No he did not 

**[sokka kuruk]:** okay ,,,,,,,,, uh ,,,,, well 

**[sokka kuruk]:** im a physics and engineering major and iroh is having me help out a few people trying to fulfill their natural science credits with the astronomy class. you're on the list of folks he wanted me to check with 

Zuko read the last message from his notifications without opening it. 

He supposed he could just call his uncle, but barging dramatically into his office always had a certain appeal. 

He pulled himself up from his desk, grabbed his jacket, almost forgot his keycard, and halfway sprinted across campus to the science and mathematics building. From Zuko's on-campus apartment to his uncle's office was a five-minute walk. He made it in two and was only a little out of breath when he arrived. 

He didn’t stop his sprint until he made it into the building. Zuko slid to a stop on the polished tile floor before making a sharp right turn down the hallway toward the elevator.The elevator ride gave him a moment to breathe, so he pulled his phone out again, scowling as he noticed that another message now accompanied the last unopened one. 

**direct message: [sokka kuruk], [zuko roku]**

**tuesday, september 24**

**11:53 am**

**[sokka kuruk]:** we've been doing it as a group, it's just in the lower level of the library every tuesday at 3. private study labs. just stop by if u want!! :)

Zuko cursed internally. First, some nerd wanted to help him with a class he had a _perfectly_ acceptable grade in, and now some nerd wanted him to hang out with a _group_ to get it done. 

He was going to have to take a hard pass on that offer. Working with others when it wasn't mandatory? Zuko shook his head with a sigh. 

The elevator doors dinged open on the fifth floor, and he immediately resumed his sprint towards the physics department offices. 

As he rounded the final corner, he nearly ran headlong into a short person with dark hair who was standing poised to knock on the polished wood door adorned with his uncle's embossed brass nameplate. 

He would have collided with them if they hadn't put up their arm at the last second and grabbed Zuko by his collar, before swinging him off to the right. 

Zuko righted himself and turned to face them and opened his mouth to say something scathing, but before he could, they spoke up, still facing the door. 

"Pay attention to where you're going, please. You could hurt someone." 

Zuko scowled. 

"Yeah well, you-" He paused. He had no idea how to respond. The kid, who looked a few years too young to be hanging on a college campus anyway, was _right,_ but his pride wouldn't exactly let him _say_ that. 

"Maybe _you_ should stay out of people's way." Not his best work. Barely a comeback, honestly. Maybe he should have just apologized. 

"How would I know what's in people's way or not?" They turned to face Zuko and waved a hand in front of their face while flashing a shark-like grin. 

Upon giving them more than a cursory glance he noticed a pin with a stylized “they/them/theirs” on the strap of their black overalls confirming their pronouns, and realized that they were blind. Oh no. He definitely should have just apologized. 

"I- uh," Zuko started before their laughter cut him off. 

They just smiled wider. "Aha, Hot Head realizes his mistake. We'll let it slide this time, but maybe _don't_ do it again. And _do_ actually pay attention to the world around you." 

Zuko nodded. After much too long a pause, the kid spoke again. 

"Well?" 

Zuko wanted to actually set himself on fire. 

"Y-yeah, uh, sorry."

"Sorry" wasn't exactly a key tenet of his vocabulary but he figured there wasn't much else to say with how much of a fool he was making of himself. 

"It's all right, Hot Head. I'm Toph, by the way." 

They stuck out their hand in Zuko's approximate direction. He accepted the handshake a little awkwardly as he introduced himself. 

"Zuko. I'm uh, I go to school here. History and Political Science." And a theatre minor, but he didn't exactly like advertising that. 

He cringed again. How awkward could he get? He wasn't that far from the chemistry labs, maybe setting himself on fire really was a viable option. Or just leaping out one of the large adjacent windows and landing on the quad. 

Toph laughed harder. They were obviously enjoying themself in the wake of Zuko's discomfort. 

"Weird, I _also_ go to school here. You know, at this campus we both happen to be on." 

Zuko ran a hand through his hair and took a deep breath. Yeah, he figured he deserved that too, even though they couldn't really have been more than sixteen or seventeen. 

"I'm majoring in math, statistics, and computer science." 

Zuko blinked. That was a lot. He had no idea how to talk to pure math people. His uncle was a physics professor and sometimes he barely managed that. 

"Uh, that's… cool," he responded. 

Toph shrugged. 

"I mean, I think so, but I get that a lot of people don't like math. Just like a lot of people think history is super boring." 

Zuko supposed that was true enough, and he couldn't exactly argue with them. People giving him shit for a less marketable major wasn't exactly new. 

His father wasn't exactly pleased that Zuko had added more focus to his academic life past things that would help in politics, which was, of course, the only acceptable career track. 

He had been amused by the history degree at first and then spoke to ridicule it at any opportunity. He didn't know about the theatre minor, and Zuko was determined to keep it that way. 

Azula didn't _get_ it, but her distaste for his pursuits came mostly from a philosophy that pleasing their father was truly the best course of action, no matter the cost because the fallout was _always_ worse. Zuko’s scar was certainly a testament to that. 

"So what brings Mr. History Degree to Professor Iroh's office?" Toph asked.

"Oh, uh," Zuko started. "I'm uh," he paused. He wasn't sure if he should bring up the fact that the beloved 'Professor Iroh' as he was always addressed on campus, was his uncle or not. 

He was saved from making the decision by the door opening. 

"Nephew! Mx. Beifong! I thought I heard you talking. What brings you two to my office?" 

"Hi, uncle, uh," he started. "Actually, I'm here to talk about astronomy class." 

He heard Toph mutter something next to him that may have been accusatory of nepotism, but he ignored them. 

Iroh nodded, then turned to look at Toph. "And you?" 

They shifted on their feet. "Uh… Same actually." 

Zuko hadn't realized they were in his class, but there was only one section of the course offered this semester, so they must have been. 

"Well, why don't you both come in then? There's tea," Iroh offered politely. 

Zuko wasn't sure about that. The conversation he needed to have wasn't exactly urgent, he was sure he could wait for just a moment. 

It was Toph who spoke up first to protest, however. "Uhhh, I can just. Wait out here." 

"Nonsense, I am sure these concerns the two of you may have will surely give insight to one another." And with that cryptic bit of wisdom, Iroh turned away from the door and made his way back into the confines of his cozy office.

Toph sighed heavily before making their way inside. They maneuvered around the stacks of books and odds and ends placed haphazardly with confidence. 

Iroh's office was a conglomeration of different clashing purposes all crammed into one small room. There were books not just on astronomy and physics, but literature and art, history and math, theatre and biology and medicine and business and sociology. 

There was a small telescope pointed out the open window, with charts of stars, diagrams of light, the periodic table, and countless other beautiful examples of informational artistry lining the space on the walls that weren’t taken up with bookshelves. 

At least a dozen potted plants, and many forgotten mugs of half-drunk jasmine tea also sat hidden among the infinite nooks and crannies. None of the tea had been left long enough to sour, but certainly to diffuse into the air. 

Toph had taken the seat closer to the window, leaving Zuko to sit in the chair closer to one of the more precariously sagging bookshelves. Iroh sat across from the pair at his dark wooden desk, which was piled high with lab notebooks he was scratching through with a red-inked pen. 

He took a sip from a still steaming teacup and sat up a little more comfortably in his wingback chair. 

"You are no doubt both here about Mr. Kuruk's invitation to the study group, yes?" 

Zuko didn’t say anything. Toph also didn’t say anything. Zuko glanced in their direction and discovered a severe frown, no doubt aimed at Iroh. 

Iroh sighed. 

“Zuko, why don’t you elaborate on your hesitation to attend a meeting that would likely be beneficial to you.” 

Zuko paused for a moment to glare.

“My grade is _fine,_ Uncle.” 

Iroh hummed, then glanced at the stack of already marked lab notebooks on his right. 

“Even so, the extra support would not be amiss.” 

Zuko huffed. He could understand the unspoken words there well enough. 

He hadn’t done all that well on his last quiz, and with what he was now sure was a low score on the latest lab, Zuko would be lucky if he still had a solid B. 

Fuck. There was a reason he was a humanities/arts major. He’d never gotten worse than an A- at midterms, and he wasn’t exactly looking forward to finding out what his father would do if, _when,_ he saw his grades. Legally, Zuko could bar him from seeing them, but not if he wanted his tuition to be paid. And there was always the chance that Azula would tell him anyway. 

Beside him, Toph shifted in their seat. 

“I’ll be honest, Professor Iroh, I'm only taking this class because it worked with my schedule and I needed more credits. The grade's not all that important to me. Also, listening to Sokka talk more than I already do might be unbearable." 

Iroh chuckled. 

"Grades are not all that important to me either. What _is_ important is learning. You and my nephew may both learn something if you accept Mr. Kuruk's offer. I understand that you are friends, and it may be a bit odd to learn from him, but please do consider attending this afternoon in the library." 

And that was that. Although it had been phrased as a polite suggestion, Zuko understood that it was more of a polite, unassuming lifeline that they had both better take. 

Zuko and Toph both finished their tea over some smaller talk before standing and making their way to the hallway. 

"Nephew," Iroh called Zuko back just before he closed the door behind him. 

Ahead of him, Toph kept walking, until the rounded the corner with an echoed "See ya, Sparky!" 

Zuko huffed. 

"Yes, Uncle?" 

Iroh bowed his head. "I promise, nephew, it will be worth all the effort you can give to it, but nothing more. Now go, and have a most pleasant afternoon."


End file.
